On this blog, we encourage ACS members to post their observations about the Gulf Coast hurricanes. This is a location to describe and express what you've seen.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

ACS has created this blog to collect observations related to Hurricane Katrina from our members, their families, and friends. We encourage you to describe/express what you have seen. You can post information by clicking on the comments link below.

We have created a separate blog to post information regarding the safety of our members and their friends and family, assistance offers or requests, and any other relevant information.

ACS has taken a number of additional steps to respond to the devastation wrought by the hurricane. ACS members were urged in the September 5 issue of Chemical & Engineering News to donate to relief organizations; both the Publications Division and Chemical Abstracts Service have taken steps to assist institutions and individual customers of their products in the afflicted regions, and a number of ACS divisions and local sections are providing services or offering the expertise of their members to assist students, faculty, or others in need. ACS is making additional use of its volunteers and staff to review ways to assist with the more long-term issues facing the affected colleges and universities, and other institutions, in the region.

2 Comments:

On Sept. 9, 2005 a series of water and sediment samples were collected from the Mobile, Al /Pascagoula, MS area. The collected materials were analyzed for petroleum and PIANO compounds by GC FID and GC MS. Some archived samples were frozen and are available for interested researchers. Some of the photos of hurricane-damaged locations and data from the 4 day boat trip are posted at: Labs.pro/katrina.html

There is a new group that might be of interest: Chemists Without Borders. Our website is at: http://chemistswithoutborders.org, or see our blog at http://chemistswithoutborders.blogspot.com. The idea is to get together a group of volunteers, similar to Doctors Without Borders, that can quickly mobilize to help in situations like this.